


The Rainbow League

by Trinz



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Animal Abuse, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Past Animal Abuse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pokemom Abuse?, Scars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 10:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20833628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trinz/pseuds/Trinz
Summary: When Thomas woke up that morning he didn't expect the day to end with him rescuing five Eevees, but sometimes, life just happens.





	The Rainbow League

**Author's Note:**

> This AU was originally inspired by [sugarglider's](https://sugarglider9603.tumblr.com/) [Pokemon au](https://sugarglider9603.tumblr.com/tagged/pokemon%20au) on tumblr.

“Run, Thomas, run!”

At the sound of Roman’s panicked voice Thomas shoved five Pokéballs labelled ‘Eevee’ into his bag and took off, desperately tracing back the way he came. As he turned a corner he ran into Roman and a group of five other Eevees racing behind him in quick pursuit.

“You found them!”

An Eevee in the back let out a cry and stars appeared in the air that Thomas recognized from the move Swift. His eyes widened in shock but relief rushed through him as the stars shot away from them.

“Yeah and we’re being followed!”

Thomas quickly knelt down and let Roman climb onto his shoulders as he looked at the ragtag group of Pokémon behind him.

“Let’s move, then!”

At that Thomas turned and continued towards the exit. The Eevees behind him started barking and yapping to each other and Thomas glanced at the Eevee on his shoulder.

“They’re saying that we lost the enemy Pokémon.” Roman translated for him.

Thomas sighed in relief as he burst out of the side door he had used to sneak in. He held the door open and the Eevees quickly raced out.

The Eevee at the head of the group turned to assess the group as soon as everyone was outside. Thomas gasped at the sight of a burn scar covering the left side of his face and eye. Having noticed his reaction the Eevee scoffed and promptly ignored his existence in favor of checking on the Eevee that brought up the back of the group.

“We should keep moving.” Thomas suggested.

One of the Eevees nodded and barked something. His eyes snapped to that Pokémon and Thomas caught a twinkle of intelligence in his eyes.

“Did you get their Pokéballs?” Roman asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Thomas shrugged off his backpack and dug through it, displaying a few of the Pokéballs he’d stolen. “You guys should get in your Pokéballs before I head back home.”

A few of the Eevees whined and one shook his head.

“Come on, if I walk into town with you guys out we’re all going to be caught instantly. I’ll let you guys out as soon as I get home, I promise.” He knelt down and placed the balls on the ground in front of him.

The Eevee with the scar and the smart one barked something that Thomas hoped was an agreement. The other three started whining and Thomas looked to Roman.

He turned back to the Eevees and Roman jumped off his shoulder to join their group.

“I promise that Thomas isn’t a bad person!” Roman protested in Thomas’ defense. “We came here to help get you guys out and, if you want, Thomas will even free you after we make sure you’re safe!”

The scarred one said something in response.

“I’m not lying! I don’t know how to get you to trust him, but Thomas has a kind heart, I can sense it in him.”

If Thomas was going to be honest, Roman didn’t seem to be swaying the other Eevees too effectively.

“Look, guys, I only want you in the Pokéballs so you can be safe, I promise that I’ll let you out the instant I get you somewhere safe.”

The other Eevees glanced between themselves at Thomas’ word and gazed at his begging face, alongside Roman’s honest one.

Though he didn’t seem happy about it the Eevee with the scar nodded and sat down.

“Oh thank goodness.” Thomas sighed in relief. “I think I hear people and they may be coming this way.”

He started pulling out the Pokéballs and quickly realized each were marked with colors.

“I don’t know whose Pokéball is whose, if I’m going to be honest.”

The same Eevee from before and the scarred one padded up to the Pokéballs on the ground and started sorting them between the other Eevees. When they were done Brains(Thomas was starting to think that he’d need names to distinguish them) picked his own up with his mouth and set it into Thomas’ hands.

“Thanks.” Thomas opened Brains' ball, which was marked with a dark blue line, and immediately the Eevee was sucked into it.

Next, Thomas reached for Scar’s Pokéball but he shied away from Thomas’ hand and growled something.

“He wants to go last.” Roman translated.

“Okay, I can do that.” Thomas looked at the other three Eevees. “Who’s next?”

Another Eevee, who Thomas was going to call Big because he had to be almost half a foot taller than the average Eevee, padded up to him. He looked… abused, if Thomas was going to be honest, half of one of Big’s ears was completely missing and a bite scar covered the other one. His tail also ended before it reached the lighter fur coloration but new brown fur had grown over the wound.

Thomas reached for Big’s Pokéball and froze when the Pokémon didn’t immediately drop it.

“Hey-” Thomas started but was cut off when Big dropped it into his hand. “Oh, gross.”

The Pokéball, which Thomas now noticed to be marked with a green line, was completely covered in slobber. He looked back at Big and the Pokémon seemed very pleased with himself.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

In response Big opened his mouth and bared his teeth in what Thomas assumed to be a smile.

“Okay, I get it.” Thomas rolled his eyes and opened the Pokéball, sucking Big inside.

Instead of putting it in his bag Thomas set it on the ground and looked up at the other Eevees.

“Next?”

Another Eevee, dubbed Tiny because he was smaller than the others, gently rolled his Pokéball towards Thomas.

“Thanks.” He quickly popped the Pokéball, with its own light blue mark, open and then set Tiny in his bag.

Only one Pokémon remained before Scar, Dark, Thomas decided after assessing the Eevee’s darker-than-average fur. Dark cautiously inched closer to Thomas and dropped his Pokéball away from Thomas before he rolled it towards him with a single paw. He looked closer at Dark and in shock Thomas noticed a massive scar spanning Dark’s face just beneath his eyes.

Dark whined under Thomas’ scrutiny and he quickly shook himself out of it. Immediately he grabbed Dark’s Pokéball and fumbled with it for a second before opening it. Thomas put the purple Pokéball with the others in his bag and turned to face Scar.

Satisfied, Scar set his Pokéball down in Thomas’ hands and sat down and waited for Thomas to recall him.

“Thanks, leader-man.” Thomas said before opening the Pokéball.

The instant Scar was in his Pokéball Roman jumped onto Thomas’ back and climbed up it to curl around his neck.

“Okay, we’re going to go home and- not leave Big behind.” Thomas attempted to dry Big’s Pokéball against the ground, resulting in it being covered in grass, before giving up and putting it in his bag. “Okay, now we’re going to go home.”

He quickly dug out a Repel from another pocket of the bag and sprayed it on before shoving it back in and swinging the bag onto his back. And then, he ran.

Not very far, mind you, Thomas wasn’t very athletic, but to the nearest path in the forest.

"We just kidnapped some Pokémon." Thomas broke the silence that had settled between him and Roman.

"I wouldn't say that." Roman responded. "They went with us willingly, we more like, helped them escape."

"Rescued?" Thomas suggested.

"That sounds better." Roman agreed.

The walk back to his house was the most stressful walk Thomas had ever taken in his life. It didn’t help that he lived on the exact opposite side of town and that Roman was pressed strongly against his neck, acting as a constant reminder of his crimes. It took all the willpower he had to not sprint the last block to his house.

Finally, though, Thomas made it to his house and slammed the door behind them. Roman jumped off his shoulder immediately and raced to the couch. Thomas quickly followed him and fell onto it next to Roman. The five Pokéballs in his backpack dug into his back and Thomas sighed and shrugged it off his shoulders.

“Oh my god, how am I going to take care of five more Eevees?” Thomas groaned as he opened the bag up and dumped the Pokéballs out onto his small dining room table.

Tiny’s ball rolled off the side, narrowly missing Roman, and Big’s spread grass and spit everywhere it touched. Thomas sighed again.

Roman laughed and picked up the fallen Pokéball and placed it into Thomas’ hands.

“Thanks, I guess I should start releasing these guys now.”

At that Thomas popped open Tiny’s ball and said Pokémon appeared on the ground in a flash of light.

He barked happily at Thomas and quickly looked around, and deflated slightly when he only saw Roman.

“Don’t worry.” Roman assured him. “You’re just the first one out.”

“Yeah, now who will go next?” Thomas pondered aloud as he looked at the other Pokéballs.

Tiny barked something and Thomas chuckled. “I don’t know who you’re talking about but we’ll do… this one.”

He picked up Brain's ball and quickly released him, resulting in the Pokémon standing right next to Tiny.

Upon seeing each other the two Eevees barked and began nuzzling each other.

“Aw, that’s… adorable.” Thomas commented.

“Do you guys have names?” Roman asked the other two Pokémon.

Brains shrugged noncommittally but Tiny shook his head and said something in return.

“Just… colors?” Roman replied in shock.

“I can give you guys real names.” Thomas said. “Even just temporarily, it’ll be easier than calling you colors or nicknames.”

The two Eevees on the ground peered up at him before they nodded.

“Great, now let me get everyone else out.”

All three Pokémon sat down as Thomas released Scar and Dark in quick succession, who mingled with the others before he finally got to Big’s grime-covered Pokéball.

“Ew.”

Something that sounded suspiciously like an Eevee laughing came from behind him and Thomas pouted before releasing Big. Immediately the Pokémon spotted Thomas holding his Pokéball and laughed at the way Thomas was holding it away from himself.

“Okay, very funny.”

Thomas took Big’s ball into his kitchen and quickly cleaned it in the sink. Two sets of footsteps followed him and Thomas turned to see Roman and Big forcing their way into the fridge.

“Roman!” Thomas complained.

Roman, unashamed, paused and looked up at Thomas. “We’re all hungry.”

“You can use your words, Roman.” He shook his head and opened it up, shoving Big out of the way in the process.

“Thomas, this isn’t enough to feed six Eevees.”

“I… know.”

The few berries that were in the fridge would be able to feed them tonight and the next morning but after that he would have to go grocery shopping. Thomas was startled out of his thoughts by Big barking loudly.

“Alright, alright, I’ll divvy up some berries between you guys.” Thomas closed the fridge and quickly started getting some bowls.

Very quickly, because Big had started whining after he started pouring berries, Thomas got all of them their food and microwaved leftovers for himself while the Pokémon ate.

“I should make a shopping list and get everstones.” Thomas muttered. “If all of you guys evolve into Leafeon or something on accident this house is going to become very crowded.”

Roman hummed in Thomas’ lap. “We should name them.”

“Oh, right.” He disturbed Roman in order to dig his phone out of his back pocket.

Thomas wasn’t very good at naming things, especially not living things like Pokémon or people. So, he fell back onto the soft cushion of the internet and name generators that could create names even when he couldn’t. It was how he got Roman’s name, and that was how it was going to work for these new Eevees.

“Who wants to be named first?” Thomas looked up and at the Eevees scattered around his living room.

Scar looked up first, probably in response to Thomas’ voice more than any want to be named, so Thomas pointed at him with a smile.

“You.”

Scar’s remaining eye widened and he made a noise that sounded suspiciously like ‘Me?’.

“Yes, you.” Thomas turned his phone to show the Eevee its screen. “I have a random name generator here, and whatever name it spits out is going to be yours.”

Scar didn’t look very impressed and Thomas pouted.

“Look, I’m bad at naming living things, this name generator is going to be more merciful than I am.”

Scar sighed and Thomas cleared his throat, gaining the attention of all the other Eevees in the room.

“So, the first name of the night is…” Thomas clicked the button on his screen and promptly made a noise of confusion. “The Deceiver?”

Scar looked almost insulted at the choice of name and the others matched Thomas’ confusion.

“I think I clicked on the wrong name generator, if I’m going to be honest, the site has a list here and I accidentally choose…” Thomas peered at his screen. “Villain titles.”

Roman snickered. “Well, I guess that that’s his name now, Thomas.”

“I feel like it’s a little mean, and a little long, two syllables or less is what I’m going for.”

“So if I shortened the Deceiver that’d be his name?”

“Well…” Thomas hesitated.

“Deceit.” Roman offered. “Short and simple and you’re not backing out of the great name generator’s choice.”

“I guess?” Thomas looked up and made eye contact with Scar.

The Pokémon made a sound and shrugged his shoulders.

“Deceit, then.” Thomas looked a little guiltily at his phone. “If you don’t want that name, it’s fine, don’t listen to Roman.”

Deceit shook his head and laid back down.

“Ok, then, I’m going back to the baby boy name generator I meant to go to.”

Brains quietly barked something at Roman and Roman laughed. “Don’t ask me.”

“What’d he say?” Thomas asked.

“He was wondering why you’re using a human name generator and not a Pokémon name generator.”

He paused and looked at the name generator loaded on his phone screen. “I dunno, I guess I think that Pokémon names can be a little demeaning, especially because I can talk to Roman, Pokémon are more human to me.”

Brains barked again.

Roman shrugged in response. “No idea, Thomas and I weren’t able to talk to each other at first but he suddenly started understanding me, like we were destined to be together.”

“Okay, let’s get this show on the road or we’ll be here all night, and you’re next in line to get a name.”

Thomas generated another name and smiled in relief. “This is a good name: Logan.”

The newly Christened Logan nodded in acceptance.

“Do him next.” Roman pointed a paw towards Dark, who seemed to be trying very hard to melt into the floor.

“Okay.” Thomas rolled again and smiled. “Virgil.”

Virgil shrugged his shoulders in response and Thomas took that as a form of acceptance, if not indifference.

Big barked loudly and jumped onto the couch next to Thomas, almost trampling Roman as he swiped at Thomas’ phone.

“Alright, alright, I’ll do you next.” Holding his phone up out of Big’s reach he read aloud a new name. “Remus.”

“Geez.” Roman said under Remus’ bark of approval. “What time period are these names for?”

“Honestly, that’s a good question.” Thomas laughed. “Only one name left, though.”

Tiny gazed at Thomas with big hopeful eyes.

“Hmm… Patton!”

Patton yipped happily at his new name.

“Awesome.” Thomas smiled and set his phone down on the couch. “Okay, who wants to watch some TV?”

Logan barked and Roman stared at him with wide-eyes from Thomas’ lap.

“Uh,” Roman started. “That big flat thing in the corner is a TV.”

“Do… do you guys not know what a television is?” Thomas asked.

The various Eevees in the room shook their heads.

“Oh.” He responded.

Roman stared at him, eyes wide.

“How about… we watch some TV, everyone get up here on the couch and I’ll introduce you to the wonders of the Office.” Thomas turned the TV on with a smile.

Roman groaned as the others made their way to the couch. “We’ve already watched the Office… so many times, Thomas, please can we watch something else?”

“Steven Universe?”

“Yeah, that’s better.”

“I think we’ve watched Steven Universe as much as we’ve watched the Office.”

“Yeah, but I like Steven Universe better.”

Thomas rolled his eyes and turned his gaze towards the other Pokémon. Logan and Patton were curled together on his right, while Virgil and Deceit treated Remus like a pillow on his left.

“Okay if anyone has questions or needs a bathroom break say something.”

Several hours later Thomas found himself with a lap and a couch full of sleeping Eevees. There was no way he was going to wake any of them up which meant another night sleeping on the couch. Thomas slowly reached around Roman and grabbed the remote. The instant he turned the TV off Thomas saw something move in the corner of his eye and he turned to see Deceit peering at him over Remus’ fur.

“Night.” Thomas smiled at the Pokémon and leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!


End file.
